Eight prosecutors were weighing a man’s life, discussing in a small conference room whether or not to seek the death penalty when their boss, Orange County, California, District Attorney Todd Spitzer, wondered out loud if the Black murder suspect had a history of dating white women, according to internal memos obtained by BuzzFeed News.

One prosecutor, a supervisor within the office with two dozen years of experience, called the question “irrelevant” and “inappropriate” during the Oct. 1, 2021, meeting, but the district attorney persisted. According to one memo, Spitzer continued and said “he knows many black people who get themselves out of their bad circumstances and bad situations by only dating ‘white women.’” He went on to describe a Black man he’d known in college who “Spitzer knew for sure” had done so, the memo said.